Sakura Petals
by Shirasu
Summary: "I love you." That was the first and the last time she ever uttered those three words to him. In the next second, she disappeared into a cloud of sakura petals. ItaSaku/School!AU/No Beta/Cover Art by me
1. Prologue

_Hey. Itachi. Have you heard of the story about puppets?_

_No, not those type of puppets silly. _

_You know how they say that love is nothing but a game. A game which is burning and bittersweet, but at the same time cruel and all-consuming. Everyone possesses the qualifications to participate in this game, but not everyone can win; not everyone can find the person that is their soul mate. And who's the say that even if you did, your soul mate has not chosen another?_

_That's why puppets are made. Hush, I'm telling a story. Puppets are crafted from sakura petals, as per requested and designed by the master. Yes, yes, funny, no. I'm not making this up! And no! I'm not using sakura just for namesake! It's just a coincidence! This is really how the story goes!_

_Anyways, the puppets l__ive among us, made to resemble real people down to the last strand of hair and it's impossible for normal people to tell the difference between a puppet and a person._ They are to love whoever the master designates them to and are forbidden to love anyone other than their designated lover. Should the puppet ever utter the words "I love you" to a person other than their designated lover, they shall forfeit their lives as punishment, forced to turn back into the cherry blossom petals that they were made of.

_Oh stop ruining the story. Some versions of the story says that there are 'puppeteers' who create these puppets, other versions just say that these puppets are created in a person's dream. But that's not the point right? It's such a romantic story, don't you think?_

_What do you mean 'you guess so?'. Being created just for a certain person, to love and to think of only that person, isn't that the purest form of love there is in the world? Oh, Uchiha Itachi, must you always be such a kill-joy?_

_The puppet's free will? I suppose you're right, what if the puppet really does fall in love with someone else? I suppose then it's just a failure, right? Oh, I don't know. It's just a story, Itachi. It's just an urban legend. Hm? I suppose I want to believe in it, since it's so romantic, but if it really does, then I would really pity those puppets._

_What do you mean hypocritic? Oh shut up! That's why I don't like talking to you. Hm? Oh, of course it's not true. I mean, if it was, we'd probably hear of it, right? People turning into petals?_

_Oh really now? Ok fine, I'll prove it._

_I love you, Itachi, I really-_

That was the first and the last time she ever uttered those three words to him. For in the next second, before she could even finish her sentence, she disappeared into a cloud of sakura petals.

Itachi grasped, hard, trying to hold the petals together but they slipped through his fingers like sand.

He supposed he had always known. She was not his. Since young, she had always belonged to his brother, to Sasuke. She was a puppet, made for Sasuke. But the cruelness of fate had led her straight into Itachi's hands, into his arms, broke through his walls and took his everything from him: his trust, his love, his heart.

And then she vanished, into thin air.

Gone. Just like that.

* * *

A/N:

This was supposed to be a one-shot, inspired by a story that I read years and years ago.

But I'm continuing it. Cheers.


	2. Lily of the Valley

**Chapter 1: Lily of the Valley**

* * *

_3 years later. _

"We're moving to Konoha. Why?"

"Because I have a new job at Konoha Gakuen, teaching art."

The setting was a barren living room. The old crystal chandelier was taken down and put to one side, the burgundy velvet couch was on sale for two thousand ryo in the yard sale outside. The walls were empty, the framed art pieces taken off their hooks and the curtains no longer framed the windows. The glass coffee table in the middle was in pieces, albeit still in the middle. Standing next to what's left of the coffee table was a red haired middle aged male, shrugging his shoulders and smirking at the girl standing in front of him. His name was Akasuna Sasori.

"Bullshit, Sasori. You don't work," the frustrated girl in front of him had her hands on her hips, her pink hair tied up in a high bun and her eyebrows frowned over her sea green eyes. Her name was Haruno Sakura.

"Language, Sakura. And I do, starting tomorrow," Sasori replied calmly.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "Alright, so let's say you do. Why do we all have to go with you? Why can't we stay in Suna?"

"Because I've enrolled all of you into Konoha Gakuen. Don't give me that look, Sakura. Yes, I mean all of you, including Temari. Konoha Gakuen is an escalator school that goes from Kindergarten to University." Sasori replied, so calm that he made Sakura want to punch him in the face. But she couldn't. "Why? Because I'm your guardian, that's why. We're leaving tonight. And don't worry, I've packed for you already."

Sakura was silent as she continued to stare up at Sasori who had a bored expression on his face, as if talking to her was a waste of her time. She hated it when he was like this.

"So why only tell me now? You've got to have it all planned for weeks, if not months!"

"Because you would throw a fit, make a big deal out of it and ruin everyone's week with your tantrum like you are doing now. Best case scenario you would stay in your room and refuse to come out like a three year old. Worst case scenario you would run away and refuse to come back unless I change my mind, like a three year old if it could." Sasori explained in the same bored tone.

Sakura went red in the face, trying to form a witty comeback but she couldn't, because she knew he was right. It was a while, however, before Sakura sighed in defeat. "And the others? They agreed?"

"Gaara said he didn't mind. Temari's answer was a big OK. Kankurou had to break up with his girlfriend, but he'll live with it."

"So that's why he broke up with Sachi-chan two months ago!" Sakura mused. "Wait, the others knew this two months ago? You all kept this from me for two months?" The anger and hurt was back in Sakura's voice.

Sasori responded with a shrug. "Well, are you done with the questions? Because I still have things to take care of." Sakura nodded reluctantly, pouting, her glare reflecting the anger and the resentment she felt towards Sasori at the very moment. Sasori sighed. "Look, I know you feel as if I've wronged you by doing this. And maybe I have, but it's not going to change, so just make the best of it."

He left her standing there, trying to ignore the glare that followed him out of the door. Only when he shut the door after him did Sakura turned to look around the place that had been her home for almost as long as she could remember. She didn't want to leave, didn't want to go to Konoha.

Heading up the stairs, Sakura knocked on the first door on her right. "Gaara, are you in there?"

There was a grunt. Placing her hand on the doorknob, Sakura turned it and pushed open the door, only to have something stopping her from fully swinging the door open. Peeking through the gap, Sakura saw that the room was filled with stacks and stacks of boxes. Sakura slipped through the small gap which was just enough for her to fit through.

"That's a lot of things." Sakura said as she glanced around Gaara's room.

Gaara gave her a look. "Have you seen the amount of boxes _you_ have?"

Hearing this, Sakura felt the anger that she had been trying to control rise again. Sakura folded her arms in front of her chest and snapped, "No, I have not actually."

Gaara raised an eyebrow at Sakura. "If you're just here to whine and guilt trip me, Sakura, then you're welcome to leave because it's not going to work."

And that was the very moment that Sakura began scowling the scowl that she wore all the way from Suna to Konoha that night, straight until the very next morning.

.x.x.x.

Konoha Gakuen was huge. Perhaps huge was an understatement; it was ridiculously and unnecessarily enormous. Sakura frowned as she tried to make sense of the five giant buildings that were spread out in front of her, three on the left, one in the middle and the biggest one on the right. They were the kindergarten, primary, secondary branch, the main office building and the tertiary campus, respectively. At least that was what Sasori had told Sakura and the group.

The group walked down the path, heading straight to the office building. Like all the other buildings that were painted white on the outside, the office building was a glaring red with an orange roof. The inside of the building was not particularly grand, but it was not shabby either. There was a certain classy and elegant feel to the decor.

Sakura and the other three siblings sat at the cushioned seats next to the reception while Sasori went in to sort through whatever work was needed. Sakura was a mixture of feelings, nervous at the idea of starting school amid unknown people, intimidated by the school itself and still resentful of having to move to Konoha at all. Beside her, Gaara was his usual pillar of marble, Temari looked awfully at ease and Kankurou was too busy chatting up the pretty receptionist who was obviously not interested.

"Stop fidgeting, it's distracting."

Sakura turned to sneak a glance at Gaara, who didn't even bother looking at her as he told her off. Sakura stopped fidgeting with the ribbon on her shirt. She was wearing Konoha Gakuen's secondary girl's uniform. It consisted of a white shirt, blue ribbon and a navy and black plaid with black knee high stockings and black shoes or black knee high boots. Sakura chose the latter. Either a dark gray sweater or the navy blue blazer could be worn on top but Sakura chose to wear a black long sleeve undershirt underneath the white short sleeve shirt instead, as the weather was still rather chilly.

The male uniform consisted of a blue shirt, a blue tie and navy pants, with belt and black shoes. Kankurou wasn't wearing anything on top of the shirt but Gaara wore the dark gray sweater with his sleeves rolled up.

Tertiary school uniforms didn't exist so Temari was in casual wear.

Sasori finally came out from the inner office after a while, handing a stack of papers to each of them. Sakura stared down at the pieces of paper, they were a map of the school, their time table, a signature slip and a copy of the school rules respectively.

"The secondary branch is the one building with the blue roof and the tertiary branch is the one that takes up half the grounds," Sasori explained lazily, "if you need me, I'll be at the teacher's office, here."

It was an apparent dismissal. Kankurou and Temari replied in acknowledgement while Gaara merely grunted. Sakura gave Sasori a look stare before the four of them left the building. Temari waved them goodbye as she headed towards the tertiary campus, where the white buildings had green roofs. Sakura followed Gaara and Kankurou as the three headed off towards the one with the blue roof.

Soon, they mixed in and blended with the other students who were heading towards the building. They were loud and cheerful, reuniting with their friends and classmates after a long spring break. The three Suna transferees easily blended into the crowd as they headed to their new classrooms. Kankurou bid Gaara and Sakura goodbye as he headed further up to the fourth floor of the building while Gaara and Sakura stayed on the second floor. The two of them were put together in the same class, courtesy of Sasori's meddling.

1-A, their class, was at the classroom at the very end of the hallway. Pushing through students that looked at them weirdly, Sakura and Gaara arrived in front of the classroom. Their lockers were opposite of the same classroom and according to Sasori, was already loaded with their textbooks and all things necessary.

"Hey, Sasuke! It's the first day back to school, don't give me that look. I heard! You and Itachi went to Ame for vacation didn't you? How was the rain?" Sakura could hear the loud voice but could not see the speaker due to the open locker door blocking. "Oh and did you hear? Kakashi said we're getting new students!"

There was a low mumble in reply that Sakura couldn't catch, probably from the one who was called Sasuke. Ignoring them, Sakura turned to Gaara, who stood by his locker next to her. Unlike her, he was eyeing at something behind her, in the direction of the other students. Sakura roughly shoved the unnecessary textbooks back into her locker.

Gaara's eyes immediately snapped back to her and the scowl returning to his face. "Stop sulking, Sakura. You're not three."

Sakura wanted to snap back at him, and say that he shouldn't be the one lecturing her because she wasn't the one who sulked for three weeks straight when Chiyo-baa accidentally threw his childhood teddy away despite he having not touched it since he was five. But she was interrupted by the same loud and boisterous voice that was talking to 'Sasuke' a few moments ago.

"Hey, hey! Are you the transfer student?" Sakura was slightly taken back when an energetic blonde rushed up next to her, his eyes pinned upon Gaara and ignoring her existence. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! What's your name? Kakashi said you transferred. Where did you come from?"

Gaara stared coldly at the Naruto, his seafoam green eyes narrowing at the loud male.

"Are you the emo-emo type like Sasuke? Oh come on," Naruto whined. Sakura fought a snicker, knowing that Naruto is the type that Gaara just can't deal with. Gaara gave a pointed glare in Sakura's direction. Naruto did not seem deterred, if anything, Gaara's lack of a response seemed to encourage Naruto. "Fine, don't tell me but it's ok! I'll introduce you to another emo-emo bastard that I know. You two will get along just great!"

Naruto moved into grab Gaara's shoulder, the latter swinging his arm in reflex to avoid being grabbed by Naruto. The very same swing also caused Naruto to tumble slightly, straight into Sakura's open locker door and causing it to swung shut on her back just for a second. Sakura winced as she sucked in her breath, to stop herself from shouting out. Gaara took a step forward, worried.

It was only then did Naruto notice Sakura. "Sorry, didn't see you there…" Naruto turned around and flashed Sakura a sheepish grin and apologized casually. Only that his voice trailed off and his eyes widened as he stared at the pinkette with his big blue eyes. His mouth hung open as he continued to stare at Sakura, making Sakura uncomfortable as she tried to shy away from his gaze. "Sakura-chan?"

"Sakura-chan? Is that you?" Naruto leaned forward, his hands clamped on both sides of Sakura, causing Sakura to frown. "Sakura-chan?"

"Let go of me, please," Sakura said as she looked up at Naruto, before staring down at his hands on her arms.

"But, Sakura-chan!" Naruto showed no signs of going to let go.

Sakura looked over at Gaara as if asking him for assistance which he refused to give, only shrugged at her. Sakura's frowned deepened further as the annoying blonde, that was holding onto her, continued to call her "Sakura-chan" over and over again, as if they were close friends or something. In any other situation, Sakura might have handled it in a more civil manner. However, if you add the annoyance to the pent up frustration and resentment that Sakura had been holding in for the past day, civil and polite was the last thing on Sakura's mind.

"I said, LET GO OF ME!" Sakura shouted as she ducked down, grabbed hold of Naruto's hands, stood up again, turned around and threw him over her shoulder, straight at the wall.

"Oi, idiot, what's taking you so long…" Sasuke walked out of the classroom, scratching his head lazily. Who in the world takes so long to just walk into a classroom? He definitely got up to something, considering the loud shout from in the corridor. Did he tried hitting on some girl again? However, when Sasuke walked into the sight of his best friend sprawled on the floor, butt sticking up in the air looking like the doofus he was, Sasuke narrowed his eyes and scanned the crowd. "Who did that to him?"

Oh he was ready to kick some ass. He's been rather frustrated lately, no thanks to his brother since Itachi tends to get a little too easily irritated whenever _her_ birthday comes along, so this was probably a good time to release all that stress too.

"I did."

Sasuke's eyes followed the sound of the feminine voice as his onyx orbs came into eye contact with soft grass green ones. Those eyes so familiar to him stared back with a challenge in them, a spark, as if daring him, Uchiha Sasuke, to stand up against them. Sasuke almost did a double take. Those eyes were supposed to be fawning all over him, not challenging him. And then he caught a glimpse of the pink hair. He remembered it long, reaching past her shoulders. He liked seeing them blow in the wind, or used to at least. Now it barely reached her chin.

It was a while before Sasuke finally found his voice. "Sakura?"

Sakura's features scrunched up. "Do I know you?"

"What are you talking about, Sakura-chan? That's Sasuke! Sasuke!" Naruto had recovered from being thrown onto the floor, walking up to stand next to Sasuke, rubbing a sore spot on his shoulder. "And, gosh, Sakura-chan, you sure got way stronger."

Sakura just stared at the two of them with a confused look on her face. Her eyes shifted between Sasuke and Naruto, before she turned around and looked at Gaara, hoping that the redhead could help her out. Gaara's eyes darkened slightly as he watched the scene unfold before him but as Sakura looked over to him, Gaara shrugged again. Sakura just rolled her eyes before turning to the two males in front of her. "There has to be a misunderstanding somewhere because I don't…know either of you."

Sakura could see the shock in the boys' faces as she said it. Naruto's eyes widened and his mouth hung open, his body tensing up in shock while Sasuke, well he looked the same but Sakura could see the way his eyes darken just the slightest. Staying with Gaara for the majority of her life allows her to be observant to the smallest detail, otherwise you wouldn't get anything out of the redhead.

As if the drama was not thick enough, a voice cut straight through the tension in the air, shouting, "What are you all doing standing outside the classroom? Ever thought of not blocking the way?"

"Ino-chan!"

"Naruto, you again! Honestly! First day back in school and you're already being a pain in the ass," the one Naruto had called Ino walked straight in between the four people, combing a hand through her blonde hair tied up in a high ponytail. "What's the commotion, this time? Oh, and good morning, Sasuke-kun."

Neither Naruto or Sasuke replied, as the two males merely focused their stare on Sakura, who was a little more than dumbfounded at the situation. Was this really going to be her high school life?

Ino followed the stares of Naruto and Sasuke, until her icy blue eyes landed on the pinkette that was standing on the other side with a look on her face that screamed 'I really don't want to be here'. Standing a step behind the pinkette was a redhead that Ino had never seen before. But Ino's gaze never did stray from Sakura. Sakura frowned as she watched Ino's eyes widen comically as the blonde continued to stare at her silently.

And then Ino raised a hand and slapped Sakura in the face.

If Sakura was dumbfounded before, it was nothing compared to now as she felt her cheek warm up due to the impact. The audience that had gathered around them took a gasp, and Naruto let out a soft cry of "Ino-chan". Gaara scowled next to Sakura as he took a step forward, ready to fight back in her place. Gaara already had a fist ready, but didn't carry it forward as he watched Sakura who was uncharacteristically calm.

"How dare you! How dare you show up here right now, like nothing happened! After you disappeared!" Ino shouted, her face was red with anger and her eyes puffing up a little. Sakura could see the tears threatening to spill but was completely at loss for the reason. "Three years! You just left! Without a note or a message! What do you think you were doing?"

Ino raised her hand to slap Sakura in the face again, but didn't manage as Gaara raised his hand a second faster, catching Ino's wrist in his hand. Gaara's scowl deepened further as he stared at Ino from beside Sakura. "Don't you dare slap her."

"She deserves it! I can slap her a hundred times and she will still deserve it! Did you know how worried I was? How anxious and how sad I was?" Ino was crying now, her eyes boring into Sakura's while her hand was still held high by Gaara. "Haruno Sakura! You explain to me right now!"

"I'm afraid, I don't know what you mean," Sakura said in an even voice, "I'm not Haruno Sakura. My name is Akasuna Sakura. And I don't know any of you."

* * *

A/N:

Ok so yes, I'm going to be continuing this story. But it's going to be a while before the next chapter comes out. It's going to go slower until I managed to write far ahead enough and then I'll try speeding up the updates. The next chapter will probably be up in another fortnight if not earlier. I technically have a storyboard/bullet point list of the main events that happens so hopefully it wouldn't take too long for me to write. But I can't guarantee anything to be honest, because I'm a really unstable writer; one day, I can spit out up to 4k words and then the very next, I wouldn't be able to put down 4. Good luck to me.

Alright to clear up some things.

Yes, this chapter happens 3 years after the prologue (the previous chapter) wherein Sakura turned into petals in front of Itachi.

If it isn't obvious enough, the current Sakura is adopted by Sasori who, here, I'm going to make related to the Suna siblings. He's going to be their uncle or something. It doesn't really matter.

Sakura and Gaara are in their first year of high school here. The reason why the start of school is close to Sakura's birthday, March 28, is because I'm following the Japanese school year, and their start of year is in early April. So here I'm going to make it the same week as March 28th. Again, it doesn't quite matter exactly which day.

The story is going to jump between two story lines. Three years later i.e. present and three/four years before present. I'll write it at the start of the chapter/scene if it differs from the previous chapter/scene, in relation to the previous chapter/scene. So it's going to cover the life of Akasuna Sakura, and the Sakura (Haruno Sakura) that turned into petals before Itachi. It's my first time writing a story that's not in chronological order but I hope I'll manage to make it work. It's also going to switch between Sakura and Itachi's point of views, if that makes it any less (or more?) confusing.

As to every other question you probably have, feel free to write it in the reviews. Or, just leave a review anyway and tell me how I'm doing. I'm still new to posting on FF so I don't really get how betas work. I'm working on it though.

Author notes starting from next chapter hopefully wouldn't be this long. Oh man. I'm not usually this long-winded.

Cheers.


	3. Black Rose

**Chapter 2: Black Rose**

* * *

_4 years ago_

Before Uchiha Itachi was thirteen, the person he loved the most was his mother, and the person he adored the most in the world, was his younger brother.

While Itachi was thirteen, his parents died in a plane crash as they rushed back to celebrate Itachi's younger brother, Sasuke's, eighth birthday.

After Uchiha Itachi was thirteen, the person he adored the most in the world was still his younger brother, Sasuke, but the person he loved the most in the world became _her_.

But she was Sasuke's, she had always been Sasuke's; and she will always be Sasuke's.

Just as mother had told him.

.x.x.x.

"Sasuke, please. Sasuke, come out of your room." The sound of her pleading, begging his younger brother made Itachi's heart clench. "Sasuke, don't do this to yourself. It's not your fault."

Itachi watched as the tears streamed down her, Haruno Sakura's, face. Her sea green eyes were red and puffy and she was kneeling on the floor, outside his door, her heart in pieces. Itachi felt his own heart shatter into pieces, seeing her like this.

"It's been three years, Sasuke. It's not your fault. Come out, it's your birthday, Sasuke. You can't shut yourself in there, please. Sasuke, Happy Birthday, Sasuke."

There was the sound of glass crashing onto the floor and breaking inside the room, followed by a frustrated shout that belonged to Sasuke. Itachi watched as Sakura flinched and her eyes widened.

"Sasuke did you hurt yourself? Please, Sasuke. Open the door."

There was a soft creaking of the door. Sasuke stared down at Sakura through the gap that he opened. Sakura looked up, eyes widened in horror at the sight of blood dripping down Sasuke's fists.

"Sasuke…you're…let me…I'll go get…the medic kit…" Sakura said as she hastily stood up, her eyes never leaving Sasuke's injury.

"Don't bother," Sasuke said, his voice cold, like an ice arrow piercing through Sakura. "Go home."

"Sasuke…" Sakura whispered softly as Sasuke shut the door again. She rested a hand on the doorknob, ready to turn it and open the door until she heard a _click_ from the other side. Sasuke had locked it.

"Sakura." Itachi walked over to the pink haired girl, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. Sakura looked up at him, her teary eyes showing her worry and hurt. "You should go home. I'll drive you."

Sakura was silent as she stared at the elder Uchiha. Eventually, she shook her head. "No, it's alright. I can go home myself, it's not that far." She smiled bitterly. "Itachi-kun, Sasuke should be your priority, not me."

She turned around and left. Itachi watched the small figure walk down the stairs and eventually heard the front door shut close. There was only worry on his face as he knocked on the door to his younger brother's bedroom.

There was no reply.

"Dinner's ready, come down when you're hungry." Sasuke gave a grunt, which Itachi knew meant that Sasuke had heard him and had acknowledged him, and that when Sasuke was hungry, he would go down to eat something. "And that was very rude to Sakura. You can't just turn her away every single year, Sasuke. You should go and apologize to her tomorrow."

Sasuke gave another grunt. Itachi was about to walk away when he remembered. "Oh, and take care of that cut on your hand, don't want it to get infected." Sasuke didn't reply but Itachi knew he heard it.

.x.x.x.

Whether or not Sasuke did apologize to Sakura the next day, Itachi never knew. But when Sakura went over to the Uchihas for dinner a few days later, along with the last member of the trio, Uzumaki Naruto, she and Sasuke were conversing and exchanging smiles like nothing was wrong; even if it was really only Sakura smiling. Itachi smiled and felt relief. He was happy, that the two of them were once again back on good terms.

"Sakura-chan! Are you going to the summer festival this weekend? There's going to be fireworks!" Naruto asked over dinner that night. "We should totally go together."

"I usually go with Ino, but she and her family are having a vacation in Iwa," Sakura said, suddenly blushing. "I would love to go but…" She sneaked a glance over at Sasuke, who was sitting opposite her and next to Naruto. Sasuke was not looking at her, instead, his attention was focused on the bowl of udon in front of him.

Naruto turned over to look at the still-sulking male beside him before begrudgingly said, "I guess Sasuke can come along too."

"I'm not going," Sasuke said.

"Why not? It's going to be fun! Besides, it's only because Sakura-chan wants you to go that I'm asking you. Be glad!" Naruto huffed. Secretly, he knew he was going to invite Sasuke regardless, but the emo prince junior his majesty didn't have to know that. At Sasuke's lack of response, Naruto whined, "Come on!"

Sasuke glanced at Naruto for a while in the corner of his eye, and then at Sakura, before returning to his dinner. "No."

Sakura was clearly disappointed at Sasuke's adamant refusal as Itachi watched her turn to stare down at her plate. Itachi spoke up for the first time in the evening. "Sasuke, why don't you go? It's always nice to spend some time with your friends."

Sasuke looked up at Itachi, a confused pout on his face. Then his features hardened, frowning slightly, "No."

At this, both Naruto and Itachi smirked. The battle has already been won the moment Itachi spoke up. Even Sakura felt a smile tugging at her lips as she waited for Sasuke's impending defeat. It didn't take long, a little more whining from Naruto, a few more encouragements from Itachi and the hopeful look Sakura was flashing him made Sasuke sigh and nod. "But only if Nii-san comes along!"

Naruto immediately turned to Itachi, "Please, Itachi-san! Please!"

Itachi thought back to the fourteen page thesis sitting on his desk, and then back to the three teens in front of him. He nodded, much to Naruto and Sakura's delight. Sasuke's frowned even more. "Don't you have a thesis to write, Nii-san?" Ah. So he knew.

"It's almost finished," Itachi replied, seeing Sasuke's shoulders fall. If 'almost finished' meant fourteen pages to go, then yes, Itachi was most certainly almost finished.

"Sakura-chan, you should totally wear a yukata!" Naruto beamed, "You'll look really pretty in it!"

"I don't need you to tell me that, Naruto!" Sakura snapped back at Naruto playfully. "But I'm not sure where I put mine since I didn't wear it last year. It might not fit me anymore, maybe I'll ask for my mother's."

"I'll wear a yukata too, Sakura-chan, maybe we can match!" Naruto pushed, "I know! I know! We can totally wear couple yukatas!"

"Who would want to wear a couple yukata with you, dobe?"

"Teme! What did you say?!"

"You heard me," Sasuke replied with a shrug as he finished his bowl of udon. "Gochisousama."

"Yeah, well I bet I look better in a yukata than you!" Naruto said with his nose held high, his arms crossed in front of him. "Because obviously no one wants to see your scrawny butt in a yukata."

Sasuke glared at Naruto, turning his head so quick Sakura was surprised he didn't get a whiplash. There was a childishly competitive look in his eyes.

"Or you can both wear yukatas on the day, and then Sakura can be the judge as to who wears it better. What do you say?" Itachi suggested.

"Alright! I'll be sure to wear the bestest, best yukata I have; or ero-jiji has!" Naruto shouted. "I'll definitely look better than you, Sasuke! Believe it!"

"I can wear rags for yukata and I'll still look better than you, dobe." Sasuke said arrogantly, picking up his plates and moving to the kitchen.

"Oi! Sasuke, wait there! Teme!" Naruto shouted after Sasuke, picking up his own empty plates and bowls before running into the kitchen after him. "First one to the kitchen has to wash the dishes!"

"That doesn't make sense at all, baka."

Itachi chuckled after the two of them as he too, picked up his empty bowl. He'll probably end up having to wash the dishes anyways, so better get there before the two of them destroy another set of plates. He looked over to Sakura sitting next to him, staring at the corridor towards the kitchen where Sasuke and Naruto ran to.

"Sakura, have you finished?"

"Huh?" Sakura said as she looked over Itachi, "Oh um. Yes, I finished." Itachi smiled as she bent over to pick up Sakura's dishes for her. "It's ok, Itachi-san! I can get those myself."

"It's fine," Itachi said gently as he lifted the plates from Sakura's hands.

Sakura nodded sheepishly, blushing. "Thank you, Itachi-san."

"You're welcome," Itachi replied with a smile. And Sakura returned his smile with one of her own, one that made Itachi's heart skip a beat.

.x.x.x.

Itachi was the one who opened the door when Sakura rang the doorbell on the day of the summer festival. As he opened the door, Sakura looked flustered in her pink yukata that was dotted with white flowers. She seemed rather self conscious of how her hair was wound up in a high bun that was held in place with a kanzashi that had pink flowers dangling off one side as she kept touching it with the hand that was not holding her white kinchaku.

"Good evening, Sakura," Itachi greeted as she let the pink haired girl in, "the yukata looks great on you. Naruto's in the living room watching TV. You can go join him while I get Sasuke into his yukata."

"Sasuke is really wearing a yukata?" Sakura asked, her eyes widening slightly.

"I suppose he is," Itachi said, "I managed to find an old yukata of mine that fit him."

"I see," Sakura said, trying to hold down the excitement that was building up at the aspect of being able to see Sasuke in a yukata. "And…you? Itachi-san? Will you be wearing a yukata too?"

"Would you like to see me in a yukata, Sakura?" Itachi asked, a smile on his face, trying to tease the pink haired girl in front of him.

"I…I think you would look very nice in a yukata." Sakura replied, a blush creeping onto her cheeks.

Before Itachi could reply however, Naruto interrupted by calling Sakura from the other side of the room. The blonde had arrived a few hours prior, asking Itachi to help him into his yukata because his 'ero-jiji', Jiraiya, did not want to help him. Naruto was in a sleeveless dark gray yukata, with a simple fan wave pattern. Itachi watched as Sakura went to talk to Naruto, the conversation quickly turning into another friendly banter between the two.

"Nii-san!"

The frustrated shout from upstairs reminded Itachi of a certain little brother in need of help and he quickly made his way upstairs to Sasuke's bedroom. Sasuke had managed to put on his dark blue striped yukata but was fiddling with the obi, unsure of how to tie it. Itachi chuckled slightly at the scene before moving forward to help Sasuke tie his obi.

"Was it Sakura?" Sasuke asked as he stood still.

"Yes it was," Itachi replied as he finished fixing the obi around Sasuke's waist, ending in a small bow behind him.

Sasuke stared at his reflection in the mirror before shrugging. "I'll go down to see them then. Nii-san, you should change into your yukata too, then we'll head out."

"I thought you didn't want to go?" Itachi asked. Sasuke shrugged unconvincingly before heading out his room and down the stairs, leaving Itachi smirking after him.

Itachi joined the group of teenagers a while later, after he too had changed into a plain black yukata that belonged to his father; the Uchiha coat of arms printed on the back, mirroring the same fan symbol on Sasuke's yukata. His long black hair was tied in the same loose ponytail that he always wore it in. "Are we all ready to go?"

"Yeah we are!" Naruto shouted, pumping his fists into the air. "Sakura-chan, it'll be like a date, wouldn't it?"

"I'm not going on a date with you, Naruto!" Sakura said, throwing a soft playful punch to Naruto's shoulders, "We're just all going together…as friends." At the last two words, Itachi watched her throw a sad look in Sasuke's direction.

"Awww, Sakura-chan, we could at least pretend that it's a date, you know!" Naruto insisted with a grin. Seeing Sakura's glare, he shrugged. "But you really do look very pretty today, Sakura-chan."

"Thank you, Naruto." Sakura said, however, her eyes were on the ever silent Sasuke, not even sparing a glance at the disheartened Naruto.

The group of four headed towards the nearby shrine where the summer festival was taking place. It was still rather early, the sun having only just gone down. Families still made up the majority of the festival goers and only occasionally would they come across a group of friends or a pair of couple, but in comparison. The group had bumped into one of their teachers, Sarutobi Asuma, with their other teacher, Yuuhi Kurenai, on a date. Itachi watched as Naruto snickered and teased the teachers, who did not seem to be angered and instead rebutted in a rather jolly fashion.

"Asuma-sensei! Asuma-sensei! Are you on a date with Kurenai-sensei!" Naruto grinned as he nudged his teacher. "Asuma-sensei, you have to teach me how to land a girl like Kurenai-sensei!"

Asuma laughed. "I don't think you need my help that much." Asuma said, winking towards at Sakura, who blush beet red, trying to protest and deny that she was on a date with Naruto. Because she really wasn't.

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I guess you found out…"

"Found out your head!" was Sakura's immediate response as she punched the back of Naruto's head. "I told you this is not a date!"

"Ow! Sakura-chan, that hurts!"

"Serves you right." It was Sasuke who spoke.

"What did you say, Sasuke?!" Naruto shouted, waving a fist in front of Sasuke's face. "Say it again, I dare you!"

"Oh stop it, Naruto!" Sakura shouted in return, throwing another well aimed punch at the back of Naruto's head. "Don't be such a kid."

"Sakura-chan, you're so biased! What's so good about that Sasuke anyways!"

Itachi chuckled as he joined the two teachers who were both looking at the three with mirth. "Good evening, Asuma-sensei, Kurenai-sensei."

"Ah, Itachi. Nice to see you here. You're babysitting the three of them?" Kurenai smiled at her star pupil, "It must be a tiring job. But I'm still expecting that essay on my desk next week."

"Of course, Kurenai-sensei," Itachi nodded. "And in return, I do hope I'll be getting the grading for my last assignment that I handed in a week ago, Kurenai-sensei." Itachi glanced briefly at Asuma before returning to look at the now blushing Kurenai with an amused glint in his eyes.

Asuma let out a chuckle at his embarrassed date. Itachi bowed slightly. "Well, I will be excusing myself. If I do not, I'm afraid Naruto would end up ripping out Sasuke's throat, if Sakura didn't rip his out first."

After exchanging goodbyes with the elder couple, Itachi turned to see the three had carried their mess towards the shooting booth. Naruto and Sasuke each had a toy plastic gun in their hands, aiming at the various prizes on the racks, but none of their shots seemed to have found their targets. Naruto was aiming at the big fox plushie at the end of the rack, all orange with an angry look that didn't make it any cuter. Sasuke was aiming easier, at the smaller and lighter keychain charm box in the middle.

"Sakura," Itachi called as he walked up to her.

"Itachi-san! I'm so sorry, I tried to stop them, I really did. But Naruto said he bet he was better at shooting games than Sasuke, and you know how Sasuke is just as competitive. And then they started battling it out and…" Sakura glanced tiredly at the pair. Itachi chuckled in understanding. "At this rate they won't stop until one of them does hit something. But then the other will go super competitive mode and try twice as hard and…!"

"Sakura, calm down," Itachi said, patting the pink girl on her head. "It's fine."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "It's _far_ from fine, Itachi-san. Well, they'll be fine. Your wallet wouldn't."

Itachi's smile froze and his gaze hardened as he finally realized what Sakura was getting at. The shooting booth was naturally not free, if not rather expensive, and the money that the boys were using, at the very least the money that Sasuke was using, came from him.

Itachi wasn't a particularly stingy person, nor were the Uchiha brothers tight on cash in any way. However, he had a planned expenditure each week and each month which he had kept to for the past years, and had no intentions of overstepping the boundaries that he had set. If Sasuke spends too much here, then it would cut into their meal money and, well, Sasuke was a picky eater.

Stopping the fight was not hard. Itachi needed only a little push there and a little pull here before the two of them were back to bantering like an old couple. Then there was a huff there and a humph there and they both folded their arms and looked away from each other. Sakura was right there, taking immediate action, consoling the two of them, until eventually, they both came around, albeit still glaring at each other.

Sakura sighed and Itachi merely chuckled at them, amused.

* * *

A/N:

If you ask me, no, I'm not really happy with how this chapter turned out, especially the last half. It was just totally different from how I wanted to write it. But no matter how much I went back, scraped it and rewrote it, it just didn't really flow the way I wanted to.

Nothing much to follow up for this chapter, at least off the top of my head.

Oh wait no, yes. I changed "ero-sennin" to "ero-jiji". The former meant "perverted sage" as we all know, but Jiraiya is not a sage here. So I just made him an "ero-jiji", i.e. "perverted old man". Oops.

And questions, feel free to put them in the comments.

The answer as to whether Sakura thought Naruto or Sasuke was hotter in a yukata would be answered in the next chapter that covers the '4 year ago' story.

Next chapter is scheduled in another fortnight, but I should be able to update before that. Still no beta.

I drew the new title pic.

Cheers.


	4. Daffodil

**Chapter 3: Daffodil**

* * *

_4 years later_

Sakura and Gaara stood in front of the class, rather uncomfortable under the stares of the students. Their homeroom teacher, a white haired male by the name of Hatake Kakashi wrote their names on the blackboard behind them: _Akasuna Sakura _and _Sabaku Gaara_.

"Alright class," Kakashi said lazily, "these are your new friends. Be nice to each other. Their names will be added to the duty roster the usual way so double check the changes." There was a collective 'Yes, Kakashi-sensei' from the class. "I don't really care where the two of you sit, as long as the seat is empty. First period starts in fifteen minutes, until then, it's self-study." With a casual wave, Kakashi left the classroom, an orange book in his hand and a lingering gaze on Sakura.

Sakura and Gaara chose adjacent seats at the back of the classroom. Gaara took the seat right next to the door at the back of the classroom and Sakura sat down at the table next to his. The seat on Sakura's right was taken by a rather shy looking girl with dark colored hair. The girl was staring at Sakura with the palest eyes Sakura had ever seen.

"Um…hi," Sakura greeted awkwardly as she sat down.

"I-I'm sorry!" The shy girl apologized, suddenly red in the face. "It's just…you…look like someone I knew." Her voice was soft and unsure, as if afraid of offending Sakura.

Sakura shook her head and shrugged. "You and at least half the class. I'm Akasuna Sakura." Sakura offered a smile.

"Hyuuga Hinata," Hinata replied, smiling back softly at Sakura.

"And this is Gaara," Sakura said, nudging the redhead next to her, who merely grunted in reply. "Sorry, he's a little…grumpy."

"I-it's ok," Hinata said, "Do…do you two know each other? Akasuna-san and Sabaku-san?"

"Sakura is fine," Sakura replied. "And he's sort of my cousin."

"I see, well you two do sort of look similar…the hair and the eyes, I think…" Hinata said, tilting her head slightly as she looked between the two of them.

"Oh no! No, we're not related! Not by blood at least," Sakura waved a hand in front of her, "I was adopted, by Gaara's uncle…the hair and the eyes is just a coincidence."

"I'm sorry…" Hinata apologized, "I just thought…" Her cheeks turned redder by the minute and she looked down in embarrassment, fidgeting with her fingers.

"It's fine, no big deal," Sakura smiled encouragingly. "By the way, Hyuuga-san, where is our classroom for Biology? I've been checking everywhere but there's no classroom number anywhere."

"We don't have to move classes…" Hinata said, "The teacher comes to us…and just calling me Hinata is f-fine…"

"Oh, um, thanks, Hinata-chan," Sakura said with another smile. Wherein back in Suna-Chuu and Suna-Kou**[1]**, you had to move between classrooms for your next lesson, apparently in Konoha Gakuen everyone in the same class had the same lessons and the same timetable as a result.

According to Sakura's timetable, they had Biology first, with Orochimaru-sensei. And then it's Classical Literature class with Uchiha Itachi-sensei. Then it was break.

Biology was fine, albeit Orochimaru-sensei being rather creepy. There was something about the way that the man stared at the class that sent shivers up Sakura's spine. The bad type of shivers. Orochimaru-sensei just creeped her out completely. Whether it was the long hair that fanned down his back like a silk curtain, or the way he licked his lips whenever his gaze landed on the raven haired student from that morning, Sasuke.

Hinata explained that Sasuke was Orochimaru-sensei's star student, the genius Biology student. Sasuke still didn't quite understood how it explained the creepy way he seemed to regard Sasuke, but decided not to overthink it.

They were going through mitosis in class, something that both Sakura and Gaara had already gone through in their last semester in Suna-Chuu. It was no trouble for them while some of the other students in the class struggled to distinguish between the four different phases. Naruto, especially, seemed to continuously mix up anaphase and metaphase.

Classical Literature also passed without a hitch. It would have been great if Sakura could ignore the weird glances that some of her classmates kept throwing at her and the way that Gaara's eyes always narrowed into a glare whenever he stared at Itachi-sensei. Itachi-sensei was pleasant and nice. He was also very considerate about Sakura and Gaara being transferees and had prepared extra notes so that it would be easier for them to catch up.

Thank goodness. Because Sakura sucked in Classical Literature, royally. Ariorihaberiimasokari**[2]**. Sakura sighed.

"Akasuna-san, is something the problem?"

Sakura snapped up as the smooth and silky voice called her name. Standing next to her desk was Itachi-sensei, a smile on his face. He was leaning down slightly, observing the piece of paper sitting atop her desk. They were supposed to be translating an excerpt from the book they were studying into modern Japanese.

"Oh no, nothing." Sakura said as she smiled up at the teacher.

He was too young, in Sakura's opinion. Hinata mentioned that Itachi-sensei was a prodigy, having graduated from University at aged nineteen and currently a student-teacher at Konoha Gakuen. And he also happened to be the elder brother of Mr Biology Genius, Uchiha Sasuke. As Hinata was explaining to Sakura, she tilted her head and gave Sakura a peculiar stare, but when Sakura asked, Hinata shook her head and said nothing.

"If you have any questions, feel free to ask," Itachi returned her smile, "by the way, Akasuna-san, your third sentence is wrong."

Sakura quickly looked down at her sheet, a blushing slowly finding its way across her face as she realized her mistake. Quickly crossing out the mistranslation, she looked up Itachi again. "Thank you, Itachi-sensei." Itachi didn't reply. His eyes were glazed over as he stared at Sakura. Feeling slightly uncomfortable, Sakura cleared her throat. "Sensei?"

Itachi's thoughts seemed to snap back as he regained his composure, once again, focusing his gaze on Sakura. He shook his head, and grimaced slightly to himself. "You're welcome, Akasuna-san."

Sakura watched as Itachi walked away from her seat as he went to help another student in the class. For the rest of the period, he didn't so much as get within two tables of her. Even when the student in front of Sakura (Ami?) raised her hand for a question, Itachi just pretended he didn't see it and called class over. That, and to start remembering their Hyakunin Isshu**[3]** because there was going to be a test.

Sakura tried to tell herself to not be so self centered and that it had nothing to do with her. But a tiny part of her couldn't help but wonder what exactly did she do wrong?

Break was twenty minutes long. Sakura sat at her table, going through the text for their next class, Maths, with Gaara next to her when a blob of blonde hair intruded her vision. Sakura looked up to see, unsurprisingly, Naruto standing in front of her with a huge grin on his face.

"Here!" Naruto shoved his phone in Sakura's face.

Gaara snorted slightly at the effort Sakura was putting into stopping herself from lashing out at Naruto at that very moment. Sakura forced a smile on her face as she looked up at Naruto. "Yes?"

Naruto shook his phone for emphasis. Sakura sighed as she leaned back slightly to get a clearer look at what was on his screen. It was a photo. To be specific, it was a photo of a photo inside a yellowing photo frame. The photo showed three kids, they couldn't be any older than twelve.

One of them was obviously Uzumaki Naruto. The blonde hair was unruly but kept behind a pair of goggles. His blue eyes were narrowing in a sneer, staring at something on his right. His arms were crossed in front of him, showing off his bright orange pajamas.

Sakura followed the gaze of Naruto's sneer to what looked like an aloof, child version of Uchiha Sasuke who, at this very moment, was glaring at them from the other side of the classroom. He was looking at the camera with a sort of exasperated glare. He was also in his pajamas, which was of a navy blue color and what seemed like a red and white fan sewned onto the side of his sleeve.

But that was not what Naruto had wanted to show Sakura. Seeing her raised eyebrow, Sakura pointed at the last person in the photo. "This, is Sakura-chan."

Sakura frowned as she stared at the last person in the photo, the infamous Haruno Sakura. She was speechless, because the resemblance between them was uncanny. She was wearing a set of pink pajamas with her pink hair tied up in a long ponytail. She was clinging to Sasuke's arm, while holding out a peace sign in front of her. There was a huge smile on her face, bigger and wider than Akasuna Sakura had ever smiled.

A sudden feeling of warmth spread across Sakura's chest, and along with it, the feeling of irritation and annoyance. In that moment, Akasuna Sakura decided that she hated Haruno Sakura. Sakura looked up at Naruto. "Your point is? Are you trying to brag? If you expect me to start acting like your 'Sakura-chan' just because you've showed me a photo then-"

"No! No!" Naruto shooked his head, waving his arms in front of him, his phone still in his hand. His eyes darkened for a moment. "You'll never be Sakura-chan. I won't let you insult her like that."

Sakura was slightly taken back, but didn't let it show. "Ok, so?"

Whatever dark shadow that was crawling over Naruto's face disappeared in an instance, the grin returned and his eyes sparkled. "I…I just wanted to apologize! For this morning. I really thought, that after three years, Sakura-chan was finally came back. I was just too excited, I didn't mean to insult. So I thought maybe I should show you Sakura-chan, so you'd understand. I mean, what I really wanted to ask was…can we be friends?"

"Uh…"

"Not just me! Of course," Naruto said quickly. "I'll throw in Uchiha Sasuke the asshole in the deal, what do you say? Friends?" Was that supposed to sway Sakura's choice, whatever it was?

"Speak for yourself, idiot. I don't want to be friends with her."

The voice was cold and piercing. Uchiha Sasuke stood a few tables away, leaning against the classroom window. His glare was directed straight at Sakura, who met it with a confident stare of her own.

"Oi, Sasuke!"

Sasuke looked at Naruto, then redirected his gaze back at Sakura. With a grunt, Sasuke pushed himself away from the window and walked away.

"Don't worry about him, he's just not being honest!" Naruto said, trying to laugh it away. Naruto held out a hand. "Anyways, let me reintroduce myself! It's nice to meet you, I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

"Akasuna Sakura." Sakura replied, still wary, as she shook his hand.

But Naruto didn't see her shaky smile, nor did he notice the slight frown of her eyebrows. At that very moment, she was overlapped with another person, a six year old girl with the same pink hair and green eyes, who took his hand and said 'Haruno Sakura'.

.x.x.x.

_4 years ago_

"Wow…" A soft sigh of awe came from the pink haired girl standing next to Itachi. Her huge green eyes were focused on the flashing fireworks in the sky. "Look! Look! That one looks like a sakura petal!" Sakura tugged on the sleeve of the dark blue striped yukata that Sasuke was wearing. "Sasuke, look!"

Sasuke gave a shrug and a soft grunt as he continued to stare at the fireworks.

"Yeah, Sasuke, look!" Naruto mimicked from the other side of Sasuke, much to Sasuke's annoyance.

"Shut up, Naruto." And it wasn't long before the two of them got into another friendly banter about nothing in particular.

Sakura sighed as she turned her attention from the boys and back to the fireworks display. "It's so beautiful."

She was probably talking to herself but Itachi couldn't help but reply. "It is." His reply startled her, as if she had forgotten that he stood next to her. She then looked at him and grinned. And he smiled slightly in return, patting her on the top of her head.

Once the fireworks display ended, the four of them decided to go back. It was getting late anyways. They were all heading the same way as Sakura lived a few blocks away from the Uchiha brothers and Naruto, who's house was on the other side of town, was staying over at the Uchiha household for the night.

Naruto and Sasuke walked in front, still continuing their banter that started halfway through the fireworks display. Sakura and Itachi walked a little behind, occasionally chuckling at the two boys' antics.

"Yeah! Well, I can talk to toads!"

"Sure, and I can talk to snakes too!"

"Can not!"

"Can too!"

"Oh really? And what do the snakes say?"

"That you're an idiot."

"TEME!"

"And that you're ugly." Sasuke added on casually.

"OI SASUKE!" Naruto shouted after the younger Uchiha. "I am not ugly! You're ugly! You're the ugliest person in the world, that's why so many girls like you! So they can take a photo of your ugliness!"

"That doesn't even make sense."

"Yes it does! You're just too ugly to understand it." Naruto folded his arms.

"Naruto, you…!"

"Now, now," Itachi stepped in before Sasuke could throw the first punch. "I'm sure there's a way to sort this out peacefully, _without violence_." The emphasis on the last two words sent a shiver down Naruto and Sasuke's backs.

"Ah, that's right." Naruto said, suddenly remembering. "Didn't Sakura-chan say she'll be the judge as to whether Sasuke or I look better in a yukata?" All three males turned their gazes to the pink haired girl who felt the need to slip away immediately. "Well, well, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura looked between them. "Uh…" But she knew, and Itachi knew, that there really was only one answer in her mind.

"Sasuke."

Of course.

Naruto slumped in defeat while Sasuke smirked. "You owe me lunch tomorrow."

"What? Why?"

"Because you lost, of course." Sasuke said, putting his hands behind his head and walking away.

"Oi, teme! Get back here!" Naruto chased after him, the two of them rounding the corner and into the Uchiha house, leaving Itachi and Sakura on the streets.

Sakura opened her mouth to say something but Itachi beat her to it. "I'll walk you home. It's dangerous for you to go by yourself." Itachi said as he began walking, not waiting for Sakura's reply. When he did not hear her footsteps behind him, he stopped and turned around. "Sakura?"

"Huh? Oh, right." Itachi watched as she smiled softly and caught up. He noticed how her smile didn't reach her eyes, much like most of her smiles tonight.

"Is something wrong, Sakura?" Itachi asked, keeping his tone casual.

"No, nothing." Sakura said eventually. "I just…um…want to thank you for coming with us tonight. Sasuke wouldn't have agreed otherwise, and he really needed to relax. So thank you, Itachi-san."

"He's my brother, Sakura. I'll do what's best for him, whatever it is." Itachi replied, smiling at her. "And for you, and for Naruto as well. So you can tell me anything, alright?"

Sakura seemed taken back as she looked at Itachi. He merely kept smiling, patting her on the head. nodded. "Thank you, Itachi-san. I'll keep that in mind."

"No problem."

They turned at the next corner, Sakura's house coming to view. Itachi walked her up to her front gate and watched as she locked it behind her.

"Good night, Sakura."

"Good night, Itachi-san," Sakura said as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "By the way, Itachi-san. I didn't say it earlier but…you look very good in a yukata. It suits you."

Itachi only smiled in return. "Thank you."

* * *

**[1]**  
Suna-Chuu = Suna Chuugakkou i.e. Suna Middle School  
Suna-Kou = Suna Koukou i.e. Suna High  
As opposed to Konoha Gakuen which means Konoha Academy.

**[2]  
**Ariorihaberiimasokari (ありおりはべりいまそかり)  
A mnemonic device to help remember old Japanese irregular conjugations.

**[3]  
**Hyakunin Isshu (百人一首)  
Classical Japanese anthology collection of one hundred waka poems by one hundred poets.

* * *

A/N:

Still in recovery.

I finally managed to persuade my mom to bring me my laptop but I'm restricted to two hours of typing a day.  
Though I got my mom to bring my tablet with me so I have been drawing when I can't type.  
The result is the new story cover art.

No idea when the next chapter will be out. I'll try to hurry.

Cheers.


	5. Cactus

**Chapter 4: Cactus**

* * *

_4 years later_

"That would be a hundred and thirteen ryo."

Sakura paid for her purchase before heaving the bag over her shoulder. Inside the grocery bag was tonight's dinner. Sasori was going to be out having dinner with his new colleagues, Kankurou was out with his new friends and Temari was already spending the night in the campus library working on her assignment.

Hard to think it was only the first week of them attending Konoha Gakuen. Gaara and Sakura were fitting in rather fine, not great, but fine. Starting from Hinata and Naruto, they had began making friends with the rest of the class, like the blonde girl who slapped Sakura on her first day, Ino and the lazy genius Shikamaru. Sasuke still seemed unwilling to befriend them, but Sakura didn't care much.

She even met a few people from the class next door, 1-B. There was someone called Kiba, who smuggled his dog into school on the second day and got caught. And then there was Shikamaru's best friend, Chouji, who always seemed to have a bag of chips in his hand. They also talked about two other people, one called Shino and another called Sai, but Sakura had yet to meet them.

It was still awkward between them and her and Gaara. It was a little better for Gaara, but whenever Sakura did something, most of the time they would give her a look. It was a look that Sakura really disliked, because she knew, that they were comparing her to Haruno Sakura.

"Oi, watch where you're going."

Sakura snapped out of her thoughts and looked up. Too late. She walked straight into a metal pole. She winced and quickly took a step back but her fingers slipped and the grocery bag fell on the floor.

"Ow…" Sakura whined as she rubbed her forehead. "Ah, the groceries!" Blinking away the pain, Sakura squatted down and began picking up the fallen groceries. Luckily, not much had rolled out of the bag. Heaving the bag over her shoulder again, Sakura stood up, only to have a potato shoved in her face.

"Here."

"Oh, um, thank you…" Sakura said as she took the potato. Looking up at the person who had handed it to her, Sakura frowned. "…Uchiha-san."

Uchiha Sasuke looked down at her, grunting slightly in return. Sakura merely stared, unsure of what to do. Their eyes met, and for a moment, they just stood there, staring down at each other. When the moment was over, Sasuke shoved his hands into his pockets and turned his heels to leave.

"Wait!" Sakura called after him, though not sure what prompted her to do so. Sasuke paused in his steps but didn't turn around. "I…uh…I live just around the corner and uh, I'm going to make dinner soon. Do you want to…uh…come?" Sakura felt the need to slap her forehead as soon as she said the last word, not sure what exactly in the world prompted her to ask him to dinner. She, Akasuna Sakura, asked him, Uchiha Sasuke, _the Uchiha Sasuke_, the very same Uchiha Sasuke who declared that he didn't want to be friends with her, to dinner. "Sorry, what was I asking…just…ignore what I just said."

"You're having dinner alone?"

"Huh?" Sakura blinked as she processed Sasuke's question. "Oh uh, no. I'm eating with Gaara." She tilted her head slightly in confusion, a frown creasing her eyebrows.

Sasuke didn't reply for a while, keeping his back to her, which Sakura found rather rude but didn't care to comment. He shrugged after a while, "I already ate." He began walking away.

Sakura stared after him before sighing and heading back home as well. Gaara was waiting, and she better hurry. She stopped after a few steps, turning around and staring at the corner where Sasuke had turned. Sakura shrugged.

Weirdo.

.x.x.x.

Sakura overslept the next morning. Gaara had left early that day because he had roster duties. Sakura vaguely recalled him knocking on her door to wake her up before he left and she had given him a half-grunt, half-moan as a reply before going back to sleep. Since Kankurou didn't come home last night and Temari spent the night in the school library, there was no one else to wake her up (Sasori left even earlier than Gaara).The next time she woke up was half an hour into the first period. Her phone log showed five missed calls from Gaara, three from Naruto and six from Ino.

Sakura cursed under her breath as she hurried and changed into her uniform. Thank goodness, they lived a mere few blocks away from Konoha Gakuen, or getting to school would be a huge hassle; especially when she's this late.

_Please don't let me bump into anyone. Please don't let me bump into anyone. Please don't let me bump into anyone. _Sakura chanted it like a mantra as she sneaked through the nooks and crannies of the neighborhood. _Please, please don't let her bump into anyone on the way to school. Please, please please._

The gates to the campus were closed and pacing inside the gate was a man, wearing green overalls, a not-so-slick bowl cut with rather bushy eyebrows. Sakura knew who it was. It was the loudest teacher in the entire faculty, Gai-sensei, also their Gym teacher. Why was _he_ patrolling the school gates?

Sakura sighed. Perhaps she should just turn around, go home and call in sick instead. Sasori will probably tell her off about it when he gets home, but that was definitely less embarrassing than being caught late by Gai. Nodding to herself, Sakura decided to bolt before someone saw her.

"Akasuna-san?" Naturally, nothing was going to go her way. Stopping like a deer caught in headlights, Sakura turned to look at the source of the voice who had just called her. A few feet away stood her too young and too handsome Classic Lit. teacher, Uchiha Itachi. "Shouldn't you be in class?"

"Itachi-sensei!" Sakura greeted. "I uh…I'm late."

Itachi smiled in her direction but didn't say anything. He didn't ask why she was late nor did he comment on the fact that she was turning to run at the opposite direction of the school. "Well, come on then, let's get you to class."

Sakura blinked as Itachi began taking confident strides towards the school gates. Dubious but with no other choice, Sakura followed after him.

"Ah! If it isn't Itachi," Gai shouted across the gates as Itachi approached him. "Checking in late again? What happened? And who's that behind you? Oh-ho! If it isn't a late student, I'll have your name and class now."

"It's no problem, Gai-sensei," Itachi waved, "She's with me. We got mixed up in a little car crash this morning and had to stay behind in the police department to help the investigation. It was only because I could pull some strings that we managed to make it to school before lunch. She's excused."

"Well, if that's the case!" Gai said, buying into Itachi's lie gullibly. "Hang on, I'll open the gates for you."

Itachi turned around and winked slightly in Sakura's direction while Sakura simply stared up at him blankly. For what reason he would help her excuse her lateness, she couldn't fathom. It was simply too weird!

Gai let them in quickly and Sakura followed Itachi into the middle school building. After changing into her indoors shoes, Sakura bowed in gratitude towards Itachi, who stood there waiting for her. "Um…thanks for uh, helping me there, Itachi-sensei," Sakura said, "I'm not quite sure why, but…it's appreciated."

"It's fine, don't stress it. I've always don-" Itachi caught himself mid-sentence, his eyes widening for a moment before he shrugged. "I just thought you probably don't want to be marked late already, seeing as it's only been a week since you started school, Akasuna-san."

"Right…" Sakura said, flushing red. "I…thank you anyways. I should probably get to class…" She moved to walk away, but a nagging question made her turn around at the last minute. "Itachi-sensei…why _were_ you late?"

Itachi smirked slightly as he looked at Sakura. "I like to check in late and take an early break at a cafe near my place when I don't have class in the mornings. Gai has a flaw in that he's too gullible. Don't tell anyone I told you that." He walked past the pink haired girl, heading in the direction of the staff lounge. Just as he was about to turn the corner, he turned his head to look at Sakura, who was staring blankly after him. "By the way, Akasuna-san. Detention for oversleeping. I'll organize a time with you later."

Sakura could only nod dumbly, watching as Itachi disappeared around the corner. Then she frowned.

Did she ever tell him that she overslept?

.x.x.x.

Sakura arrived at her classroom just as first period ended. First period was Japanese History taught by Kakashi, which Sakura aced, so he didn't really care. He just stared at her questioningly as she walked into class, taking her seat beside Gaara, as he packed up his teaching materials and left the classroom.

"Where were you?" Gaara asked, looking at Sakura as the pink haired girl sat down. "You didn't pick up your phone."

"I overslept." Sakura sat quickly. Gaara opened his mouth but Sakura shook her head. "Itachi-sensei covered for me, so I wasn't marked down."

Gaara raised an eyebrow at which Sakura merely shrugged. A shadow suddenly loomed over Gaara's eyes as his body stiffened. He stood up abruptly.

"Gaara?"

"I'm going to find Kankurou. I'll be back before class starts." Gaara said briskly before he left the classroom. They had a five minute break between classes, but two minutes was already gone. Sakura stared after the redhead.

"Oi! Sakura! I called you six times this morning, why didn't you pick up? Do you know how worried I was?" Sakura's attention was turned to the blonde who stood in front of her desk, Ino, who currently wore a frown and had her arms on her hips. "Couldn't you at least _text_ me, even if you couldn't pick up? Even Gaara didn't know where you went! It's like you've disappeared off the face of the world! It was as if…" Ino trailed off, looking away. Her face was paler than a moment ago.

Sakura's eyes narrowed. "Ino, I've never disappeared off the face of the world, nor do I plan to." Sakura's tone came out a little more snappy that she expected it to, but she wasn't sorry. "I'm _not_ her."

Ino's bit her lip. It just slipped out, she couldn't help it. It wasn't easy. Even though she knew that Akasuna Sakura was not Haruno Sakura, even though their personalities were so different, there was something about her, about them, that made it so easy for Ino to convince herself that this was Sakura, her best friend and not Sakura, complete stranger.

"I'm sorry," Ino finally said, sighing. "But I…don't scare me like that, please. You have no idea how worried we were, especially when even _Gaara_ didn't know where you were. Naruto was ready to rush out of school to find you, and he would have had Kakashi-sensei not came in but…"

Sakura's gaze softened. "I'm sorry too, that was…insensitive of me. I overreacted. I just…I'm so _sick _of it, of living in Haruno Sakura's shadow just because apparently, we look alike."

"Not alike, you look exactly the same." Ino corrected, before turning away, a blush tinting her cheeks.

"Right."

It was a pregnant silence that both girls felt too awkward to interrupt. Thankfully, they were saved by the bell. Ino muttered a "talk to you later" sheepishly before moving back to her seat. Gaara came back at the last moment, entering the classroom at the same time Ebisu did. He dropped a note on her table before sitting down and taking out his books.

_I'm busy after school, go home yourself._

Sakura turned to give him a questioning look as Ebisu began his lecture on molecular bonding. Gaara didn't catch her gaze nor did he show any sign of further explaining himself. Feeling rather put off but knowing that it was not her place to pry, Sakura merely replied with a '_Ok_' written on the same piece of paper and dumped on his desk.

.x.x.x.

It was the first time that week that Sakura had to go home herself. It wasn't the first time Gaara had plans after school, but since they pretty much shared the same bunch of friends, if Gaara had plans after school, it also meant that she had plans after school.

Perhaps she should start thinking about joining a school club. While back in Suna-Chuu, a school club or extracurricular activities were mandatory, it was an optional thing here at Konoha Gakuen so Sakura had been putting off finding one just yet. Sakura used take part in an extracurricular activity that taught them first aid. It wasn't anything special, just simple things that would help. At the end of last year, she managed to get her First Aid Certification, which was cool, she supposed, though it had yet to prove useful.

"Akasuna-san, are you going home now?"

Sakura looked up at the voice who had called to her. It was Uchiha Itachi. He was leaning against the wall in a corner, a smile on his face.

"Itachi-sensei," Sakura greeted, nodding her head in acknowledgement. "Um, yes I am. Is something the matter?"

"I hope you didn't forget about your detention for this morning?" Itachi replied pleasantly, pushing away from the wall and walking up to her. "Are you free to do it now? I could use some help."

"Yes right…of course," Sakura said. "I could do it now. How long would it take?"

"Not that long, perhaps an hour or two," Itachi said, "I only need help grading some elementary homework. I'm sure you can do that right?"

"Sure?"

Itachi nodded before he turned around to lead her to his office. "Come on then."

"O-ok," Sakura said as she followed after Itachi.

The Classical Lit. department had more teachers than Itachi, naturally. Sakura nodded in acknowledgement to an older female teacher Hinata had introduced as Kurenai-sensei when they passed her in the corridors. Apparently, she had taught her before. She seemed like a friendly person, if you could ignore the weird looks that she was giving Sakura. Apparently there was another teacher who taught Classical Lit. called Jiraiya, but Sakura had never seen him before.

"You can sit over there. You can help me grade through the conjugations, there's a dictionary there if you need to double check anything." Itachi said, gesturing to an empty table on the side of the room. On one end of the table were a stack of papers and next to it a dictionary as Itachi had pointed out. Sitting in the middle of the table, however, was a cup of ready-made anmitsu with a plastic spoon. Sakura opened her mouth to point it out, but Itachi waved it off. "You like anmitsu right? You can have it."

And indeed, Sakura liked anmitsu. But there was absolutely no reason at all why Itachi would know that. She had yet to mention to anyone in this school that anmitsu was her favorite food. Perhaps he asked Gaara, but that seemed stretching it. "Thank you, Itachi-sensei…but, how do you know that I like anmitsu?"

Itachi stiffened before he turned to her a shrugged. He smiled. "I guessed. Am I right?"

Sakura could only nod.

* * *

A/N:

The chapter is a little shorter than usual. I suppose, but it's a good place to end it.

Nothing much to say. Thanks for all the support and reviews, they're much appreciated. I love reading your reviews, they make my day. They also make me feel guilty about updating so late. So keep reviewing, alright?

Next chapter will be on 4 years ago, I think.

Cheers.

EXTRA NOTE:

I'm re-posting chapter 5 because there's been some error and for some reason, it's not showing up for some people and all that shit. Not sure if it's my problem or FF's problem so I'm just gonna reupload this. Some people seem to be able to access it just fine however.


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